News of families

On may 2nd, the search for Maisy Odjick and Shannon Alexander continued, on the Kitigan Zibi reserve, 8 months after the two girls went missing. The search was organized by the Odjick family, with the help of Amnesty International, which donated 2 buses to help transport volunteers from Ottawa who wished to help with the search. The two buses were filled, and many more showed up on top of that. All in all, over 240 people came to help scour the woods around the reserve for any clue at all that might lead to answers. Four member of the Missing Justice collective in Montreal attended. The search was led by Search and Rescue Global 1, a pro-search team run entirely by volunteers. The SAR team was overwhelmed by the number of volunteers, so some people had to wait in the community hall for their turn to join a search team. We were divided into groups of 15-20 people, with 2 team leaders. Everyone had a stick of some kind to help them push aside some of the thick brush that we would encounter. We lined up for instructions: we were to yell ‘stop ‘ along with a number we had been given whenever we saw anything that might be a clue. A clue could be anything at all: a beer bottle, a piece of cloth, strange litter, anything.Then, a team leader would come and find us, look at the clue, and maybe choose to radio it in. At times distracted by nightmarish visions of what we might find, at times pre-occupied with getting through the insanely thick bush unscathed, we walked through the woods, in as straight a line as possible given the fact that we were supposed to go through all obstacles as opposed to around them. There were a few times when we lost site of the people beside us, but it was never long before someone yelled ‘stop.’ Nothing of interest was found, and even with 240 volunteers searching from early morning until dark, only a small fraction of the land was covered. Talking to people during breaks, and while eating, revealed that people had very different political backgrounds and ideas about violence against First Nations women, and about Maisy and Shannon’s case in particular, but the common link was always: it’s horrible; answers are need. We were extremely well-fed that day, as numerous volunteers from the community had generously prepared mountains of food for us all. It struck me, how every aspect of the search was volunteer-run, except for the few police who were hanging around. I spoke to a member of the Search and...

Maisy Odjick and Shannon Alexander have been missing from Maniwaki, QC since September 2008. Please join in a search led by Search and Rescue Global 1. For more information and to find out how to get involved, go to:...

Tiffany Morrison, a 25-year old Mohawk woman from Kahnawake, outside of Montreal, was last seen on June 18th, 2006. Tiffany was seen at a bar in the nearby town of LaSalle, Quebec on the night she disappeared. She shared a taxi back to Kahnawake with a man from the community. He has told police that she remained in the taxi after he was let out at his own house. Although taxi drivers are required to report their fares, they don’t always do so. To date, the police have not been able to identify the taxi company or locate the driver. Tiffany’s bank account and credit card have not been used since that night. The Kahnawake Peacekeepers, the police force for the Kahnawake First Nation, is treating Tiffany’s disappearance as a criminal investigation. They have been in contact with police forces in Quebec and Ontario. Ed Stacey, Investigator with the Kahnawake Peacekeepers, says that after publicizing Tiffany’s disappearance on missing persons networks, the force has heard numerous false sightings and other rumours but so far has turned up little that is credible. However, he remains convinced that there are members of the public who know something about what happened but have not come forward yet. Tiffany and her daughter live with her mother Carol. Her family describe her as energetic and completely devoted to her daughter. At the time of her disappearance, Tiffany had just completed an entrepreneurial training program. She planned to apply for a loan so she could go into business for herself. “Tiffany always had a plan,” her mother recalls. “She wanted to get her and her daughter their own home.” The Kahnawake Peacekeepers have asked that anyone with information on the disappearance of Tiffany Morrison contact Ed Stacey at 450-632-6505. information source:...